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In This Issue

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NSCC Foundation's 5th Annual Sweethearts for Scholarships Gala

Wordwork Aaron Douglas’ art examines the role of language and labor in African American history

Mom Always Liked Me Best Robert Leleux’s debut memoir insists on laughing through the tears

Highballers and Hoss Hair Pullers A Brit goes in search of the secret history of hillbilly music

Head of the Class Nashville’s earnest new mayor is willing to try something different to fix schools

Words of the Week

A Vote of No Confidence Can the electoral process be scattered, smothered and hacked? Nashville filmmaker David Earnhardt says yes.

Confederacy of Dunces A weekly roundup of embarrassing behavior

 

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The move was widely seen as an effort to “out green” rival chain Whole Foods, which last week announced it is phasing out plastic bags by this summer.

“When it comes to loving the earth, we can work around the edges, like worrying about bags, or we can take bold action. We choose bold action,” says David B. Dillon, Kroger CEO.

The ban on vehicle customers will be implemented gradually, with SUVs banned next year and high mileage vehicles the year after that. “By 2010, the only vehicles in our lots will be electric or hybrid, and then by 2012 we will serve only walkers and bikers,” Dillon says. “We will have bike racks, but no parking lots.”

The vast expanses of asphalt surrounding Kroger stores will be planted with grass and trees and outfitted with benches and picnic tables.

For customers who want to buy more groceries than can be easily carried or strapped to a bicycle, Kroger will rent bike trailers or rickshaw-like grocery haulers for walking patrons. The chain also plans to expand into neighborhoods, placing smaller stores, some the size of phone booths, within walking distance for more customers.

Whole Foods co-president and chief operating officer A.C. Gallo, when informed of his rival’s plans, vowed to up the green arms race among grocers.

“Kroger will never out green us. We have plans to employ even more cutting-edge ideas, like doing away with plastic bottles of water and selling, for only $20, a glass device called the Whole Foods Multi-Use Beverage Container, that people can fill with tap water to drink. That’s not only thinking outside the box, that’s sending the box out for recycling!

“And by 2015, we’ll do away with delivery trucks to our stores by using foot convoys of displaced factory workers to physically carry stock from our warehouses to our stores,” he says. “Wherever you go, you’ll see our Whole Foods Delivery Force trudging the highways of America. It will be quite a sight.”